Mixing characteristics of T-type microfluidic mixers

Computational fluid dynamics simulations are used to study the mixing characteristics of a microscale mixer for gaseous flow as a function of various operating and design parameters. The device is based on a T configuration and gases of different viscosities are employed. Simulations show that the mixing length increases with the fluid speed and is also influenced by the mixer aspect ratio. Altering the angle between the inlet channels does not significantly affect the mixing performance, whilst throttling the fluid considerably decreases the mixing length. The results are compared with Fourier number predictions and it is demonstrated that these can provide useful limits for a preliminary design.